Israeli military confirms identity of Israeli hostage killed in Gaza

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel confirmed on Friday that a hostage found killed in Gaza was Hamza Ziyadne, the son of deceased hostage Youssef Ziyadne, whose body was found alongside him in an underground tunnel near the southern city of Rafah.

On the ground in Gaza, meanwhile, Israeli forces continued to pound the tiny coastal enclave. Palestinian medics said seven people were killed outside a mosque in an airstrike on the Bureij camp in central Gaza, while three others were killed in two separate incidents in the north of the territory.

There was no immediate comment on the latest fighting from the Israeli military, which earlier announced it had concluded forensic tests to identify Hamza, an Israeli Bedouin taken hostage by Hamas-led fighters alongside his father.

Earlier this week, it said the bodies of two hostages, the other being Hamza's father Youssef, had been recovered close to those of armed guards from Islamist group Hamas or another Palestinian militant group.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas, though the group's armed wing told Qatar's al-Jazeera news network that most of the hostages in northern Gaza were now considered missing due to intense Israeli strikes there.

The left-leaning Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the Israeli military has said it suspected Hamza and Youssef were killed in one of its strikes, given their bodies were found next to those of dead militants.

The military declined to comment to Reuters on the cause of the hostages' deaths.

Friday's developments in the 15-month-old war come amid renewed efforts by mediators Qatar, the U.S. and Egypt to reach a deal to halt fighting in Gaza and free the remaining hostages before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

IMPASSE

The Hostages and Missing Family Forum, which represents most of the families, renewed its call on the Israeli government to conclude a deal with Hamas and bring back the hostages, saying Youssef and Hamza could have been saved through an earlier agreement.

The negotiations have been at an impasse for a year over two key issues. Hamas has said it will only free its remaining hostages if Israel agrees to end the war and withdraw all its troops from Gaza. Israel says it will not end the war until Hamas is dismantled and all hostages are free.

Israeli defence minister Israel Katz on Friday instructed the military to present a plan for the total defeat of Hamas in Gaza if it does not release the hostages before Trump's inauguration.

Israel launched its assault on the Gaza Strip after Hamas fighters stormed across its borders 15 months ago, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, with much of the enclave laid waste and most of its people - displaced multiple times - facing acute shortages of food and medicine due to Israel's actions, humanitarian agencies say.

(Reporting by Maytaal Angel and Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Alex Richardson)